


London, 2164!

by kallianeira



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (1963), Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Gen, Post-Serial: s010 The Dalek Invasion of Earth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-24
Updated: 2019-02-24
Packaged: 2019-11-05 00:15:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17908409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kallianeira/pseuds/kallianeira
Summary: "One day, I shall come back..."The Doctor makes good on a promise she made centuries ago.





	London, 2164!

“London, 2164!” the Doctor announces, opening the TARDIS doors with a flourish and leading her friends outside. Then she stops, her hands on her hips, scrunching up her nose in confusion. “Looks familiar…,” she says to herself.

Yaz looks around. “Doesn’t look very familiar to me. There’s rubble all over the place.” There are bricks and pieces of wood and metal lying about, and Yaz spots a key on a long chain close to the TARDIS. She turns to look at Ryan when she hears him kick one of the rocks lying around and watches as it rolls down into a river. The Thames, she thinks, if this is London.

Graham walks over to where a poster is hanging on a brick wall next to the TARDIS. “‘It is forbidden to dump bodies into the river.’ Just where have you landed us this time, Doc?”

As if on reflex, the Doctor replies, “Don’t call me Doc, I prefer Doctor.” She gasps, her eyes going wide. “I remember! I’ve been here before! Oh, that was a long time ago, a very long time ago, back when I was still travelling with Barbara and Ian and… Susan,” she finishes on a quiet voice. “That was… lifetimes ago.” She stares off into the distance, and Yaz wonders, not for the first time, how old the Doctor might be. Then the Doctor brightens up. “Well, I did say I was gonna come back one day, so I suppose today’s the day!”

“Today’s the day for what? Please don’t tell me you brought us here to clean this mess up.” Ryan half turns back to the TARDIS, ready to go back inside, but Yaz pulls him back by his sleeve.

“Nooo, no no no no, nothing like that!” The Doctor is now practically jumping up and down with excitement. “I’ve met all of your families, so what do you say about meeting my family?”

“I thought you said your family’s… gone?” Yaz asks carefully, exchanging a glance with Graham.

The Doctor looks around a bit, as if to decide where to go next. “Well, you know how it is with time travel, anything’s possible,” she says distractedly, then she turns her attention back towards Yaz and the others. “In a way, they are gone. But this particular moment - if it is indeed the moment I think it is, and I do believe I’m right - this particular moment is long before she’s going to be gone. She’ll meet me a few more times in her future, but for me those times have already happened - it’s all a bit complicated.”

“Are you even allowed to do that? Meet people in the wrong order? What if you say something to them and all of time and space explodes?” Ryan asks.

“Nah, don’t worry. I’ve got practice. I’ve done it before. Met my wife the day she died and I managed to keep that a secret for a few centuries!” She sets about exploring the immediate area around them again.

Graham looks on, a confused look on his face. “Hang on, you’re married?”

The Doctor gives an enthusiastic nod. “Yeah! You know, the good thing about meeting her out of order is that I don’t know if I’ve really seen the last of her. For all I know she’s gonna pop up some day and we’ll have another few adventures together. Oh, I love surprises! Don’t you love surprises?”

“Grandfather!”

They all whip around to see a young woman running up to them, a man following not too far behind. The striped shirt she’s wearing and her hairstyle make Yaz wonder if there’s some kind of sixties revival going on in this century. She’s also surprised to see that the woman is only wearing one shoe.

The woman comes to a halt a few metres away from them, the man stopping just a step behind, watching Yaz and her friends warily. He seems ready to jump forward to protect the woman should any of them decide to suddenly attack.

“Grandfather?” There’s confusion on the woman’s face now, where moments ago it was lit up by hope and excitement. Her gaze is jumping from Graham, to Yaz, to the Doctor, to Ryan, then back to Graham, before finally settling on the TARDIS where it’s parked in the corner.

The Doctor takes a small step towards the woman. “Susan,” she breathes softly, and the woman returns her gaze to the Doctor. Then they just look at each other for a few seconds. Yaz watches as the confusion on the woman’s face clears away and she slowly starts to return the Doctor’s hopeful smile. Eventually, the Doctor gives… what did she call her? She gives Susan a small nod, and moments later she’s got an armful of tiny woman and they’re hugging each other as tightly as they can.

“Oh Grandfather, I wasn’t sure if I was ever going to see you again! You said you’d come back, I know, but how did you manage to land the TARDIS here so precisely?” Susan pulls back a little to look up at the Doctor’s face. “It must have taken you ages to end up here again, I see you’ve regenerated!”

“Oh! Right, yes! I have! Do you like it?” The Doctor pulls back completely, spreads out her arms then looks down at herself before looking expectantly at Susan, who giggles at her antics.

“Yes, of course I like it, grandfather,” she replies.

“Susan…” The Doctor suddenly looks very uncomfortable. “The way I left… I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have forced you to stay here like I did.”

“I can’t say that I am not cross with you, or that I am not disappointed… but I understand. David -” she glances over at the man who had followed her, and takes his hand when he steps closer. “He explained it to me. And he was right. You were old and I never would have left you. I felt like I needed to take care of you. But you’ve regenerated! You’re not old anymore. And I do love David.”

“So you’ll stay here? I want you to have a choice this time,” the Doctor says, looking deeply into Susan’s eyes.

The young woman reaches out to take both the Doctor’s hands in her own. “I want to be with David, grandfather. I am sure. I can see you’re going to be fine without me. But you don’t have to leave yet, do you? I might have only just seen you a few minutes ago, but for you it’s been much longer, hasn’t it? I want you to tell me all about your adventures! And I want to say a proper goodbye to the TARDIS this time.”

“Of course!”

Susan turns around and curiously looks at Yaz and the others. “And you haven’t introduced me to your new companions yet.”

“Oh! You’re right! This is Graham, Yaz and Ryan over there,” the Doctor says, but she only waits long enough for everyone to do a quick little wave before she takes Susan’s arm and steers her towards the TARDIS.

Susan throws a small apologetic smile over her shoulder but turns her attention back towards the Doctor as they make their way down the road. “So, did you manage to get Ian and Barbara back to their own time after all?”

“Well, not me personally, no. They took matters into their own hands, actually. But they got back to 1965 all on their own! Last I heard they were on their fourth honeymoon…”

They chatter on a bit more while David, Graham, Ryan and Yaz follow a few steps behind, then Susan runs ahead a bit and picks up the key Yaz had noticed earlier.

The Doctor looks shocked. “You just left a TARDIS key out here in the middle of all this mess?”

Susan deflates a bit, avoiding her gaze. “I was heartbroken, I thought you’d left me forever, grandfather! I didn’t want to be reminded of that so I just… dropped it.”

“I’m sorry. It’s alright, my dear,” the Doctor says, and she gives Susan another hug. “Well. Go on then. Take a look inside.”

She lets go of Susan and watches with an excited grin as she opens the door and slips inside before following her.

Yaz shakes her head fondly and exchanges a look with her friends. It’s only a few seconds before they hear Susan’s “Oh grandfather, she’s beautiful!” from inside the TARDIS, followed by the Doctor’s very excited “Isn’t she?”

Ryan still looks a bit dazed. “‘Grandfather’?”

“She did say we’d meet her family,” Graham says with a shrug, and Yaz laughs as they all follow the Doctor and Susan inside.


End file.
